Site Mobile Navigation

Miami Police Department Is Accused of Pattern of Excessive Force

Federal officials have found that the Miami Police Department engaged in a pattern of excessive force that led to a high number of shootings by officers, among them episodes that resulted in the deaths of seven young black men over an eight-month period in 2011.

The findings, released on Tuesday, came after a two-year investigation by the Justice Department’s civil rights division, and they identified “troubling” practices, including delays in completing investigations of officer-involved shootings, questionable police tactics and a lack of adequate supervision. From 2008 to 2011, officers intentionally fired their weapons at people 33 times, the investigation found.

In a summary addressed to Tomas P. Regalado, Miami’s mayor, and Manuel Orosa, the police chief, the Justice Department noted that its own investigation would have been completed sooner if not for the Police Department’s “frequent inability to produce necessary documents in a timely fashion.”

Wifredo A. Ferrer, the United States attorney for South Florida, said that discussions would now begin with the department over what corrective measures should be taken.

Miami’s Police Department is one of a number of law enforcement agencies that have been investigated by federal authorities in recent years over abuses like excessive force, racial bias or the handling of sexual assaults. Such investigations usually result in a settlement, known as a consent decree, and the assignment of a monitor to see that changes are made.

Mr. Ferrer noted that this was the second time in a little over a decade that the Justice Department had been called in to investigate the Miami department: the first time was in 2002, when similar problems were found. In a 20-month period after John F. Timoney, formerly of the New York Police Department, became Miami’s chief, no officer discharged a firearm, the report noted. But problems resumed after he left in 2004.

The number of officer-involved shootings in recent years was especially high when compared with that of other big cities like New York and Washington, Mr. Ferrer said. In 2010, he said, there was one fatal shooting for every 4,300 officers in New York, compared with one for every 220 in Miami.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

In its report, the Justice Department described “egregious” delays in the investigation of officer-involved shootings by the Miami police; in one case, the officers in a shooting had not provided statements about what occurred more than three years later.

In many cases, officers were returned to duty on the streets while investigations into shootings were still in progress. Officers also showed bad marksmanship and poor judgment, the investigation found, firing their weapons at moving vehicles or when pedestrians were nearby. Specialty units, like those devoted to robberies, gangs, special operations or crime suppression, were involved in a high proportion of shootings: 9 out of 17 total in 2010 and 2011.

Mr. Ferrer said that Chief Orosa, who was appointed in 2011, had already begun to make significant changes in the department, but “we are working with him to make sure those reforms become well ingrained into the Police Department and discussing what other reforms are needed.”

In response, Chief Orosa said in a statement, “The Miami Police Department welcomes this long-awaited response and looks forward to the opportunity to clarify several components of the letter, as well as to labor intensely to negotiate an agreement with the Department of Justice, as promptly as possible.”

Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said that while instituting new polices was important in addressing problems, the most critical factor in turning a department around was having a strong leader.

“You need to have leadership and consequences when people don’t follow the policies,” Mr. Wexler said. “I think police are very sensitive to whether or not you tolerate excessive force, and if the message is that that’s going to be tolerated, it only expands.”

A version of this article appears in print on July 10, 2013, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Miami Police Are Linked To Pattern Of Force. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe